rectangle Questions and Answers

What is happening?
Beaconsfield Town Council have decided to put two areas of our local green space on the open market for development.

Where are these areas?
One is 1/2 acre of the One Tree Meadow public space, and the other is 3/4 acre of woodland currently being used as garden land behind 1-3 One Tree Lane.

Why?
Money. The Town Council think that selling some of our precious local green space to developers is a good way of raising money. Of course, we refuse to allow the destruction of our local environment to be reduced to the level of a purely financial transaction.

What would they do with the money?
They have been a little bit vague about that other than half-promises of improving the Town Hall and "playgrounds".

The Town Council are considering selling part of the One Tree Meadow public space (behind number 4 One Tree Lane) for development. Really?
Yes - unbelievable but unfortunately true.

Didn't there used to be a playground on One Tree Meadow?
Yes. Ironically it had to be removed because it had fallen into disrepair.

Do they really think the people of Beaconsfield will let them get away with it?
Their tactics seem to be to try to force it through quickly and "under the radar" without any public debate.

Wouldn't selling part of the One Tree Meadow public space be contrary to the Town Council's stategic plan policy of not disposing of any publicly owned and accessed freehold land?
Yes.

Do you have a better idea?
Yes. We challenge the Town Council to become the only Town Council in a generation to actually increase the amount of public green space in Beaconsfield by legally incorporating the woodland behind One Tree Lane into the One Tree Meadow public space.

What have the Town Council said to that?
Nothing.

What is the woodland being used for at the moment?
For the last forty years the woodland has formed part of the gardens behind 1-3 One Tree Lane, Beaconsfield. It was maintained by the residents of One Tree Lane at their expense, and rented off the council for a nominal rent.

What wildlife has been spotted in and around the woodland?

rectangle Deer

rectangle Foxes

rectangle Frogs/Toads

rectangle Pheasants

rectangle Woodpeckers

rectangle Grass snakes

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rectangle Bats

Aren't Bats a protected species?
Yes. The owner of the house on the western edge of the woodland reported that he sees bats all the time, and even once found one in his living room that must have come down his chimney!

In England the law protecting bats is considerably stricter than it is for most other animals. All bat species are protected under schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. All bats are also included in Schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c) Regulations 1994, which defines "European protected species of animals". Taken together the Act and Regulations make it illegal to: 

• intentionally or deliberately kill, injure or capture (take) bats;
• deliberately disturb bats (whether in a roost or not);
• damage, destroy or obstruct access to bat roosts
• possess or transport a bat or any part of a bat, unless acquired legally;
• sell, barter or exchange bats, or parts of bats.

In this interpretation, a bat roost is "any structure or place which any wild [bat]...uses for shelter or protection". Because bats tend to reuse the same roosts, legal opinion is that the roost is protected whether or not the bats are present at the time.

We have contacted our local wildlife trust for advice on helping protect our bats.

Is there any access to the woodland?
No. There is no access to the woodland currently other than through the residents back gardens.

How would the developers make access to it then?
Number 4 One Tree Lane has acquired planning permission to demolish their existing house and replace it with a road and three dwellings. If this went ahead (see below) then by concreting over part of the One Tree Meadow public space then the developers could make a road to the woodland behind 1-3 One Tree Lane.

Will the development at number 4 One Tree Lane go ahead?
Hopefully not. The residents of one Tree Lane have formed an action group and have taken legal opinion from a barrister. His opinion is that a legal objection to the proposal stood a high chance of success because the covenants in place are unambiguous. (There are covenants in place on a number of the properties on One Tree Lane precluding the building of more than one dwelling on each plot).

What does Dominic Grieve, our local MP, think about all this?
Dominic has been very sympathetic and has written to the Town Council.

How does all this square with the Conservative Party's Labours Garden Grab campaign?
Not well we wouldn't have thought.

What about the Beaconsfield Independent Electors Association public pledge to protect our open spaces?
Good point.

Is the woodland really valuable as development land?
Yes and no. All land in Beaconsfield is valuable to some extent, but the woodland has a number of attributes that would make it less valuable;

rectangle It is right on top of the railway line.
rectangle It is the location of a soakaway where all the surface water from One Tree Lane is evacuated to. After rainfall it regularly turns into a small pond (see here).
rectangle Even if the scheme at number 4 went ahead, the access to number 4 itself is extremely limited, and not suitable for increased housing density (see here).

What else do the Town Council say?
They try and spin the proposal to destroy the woodland as some sort of benefit to the "wider community" of Beaconsfield. We suggest that if that really is a motivation then the woodland behind 1-3 One Tree Lane could be incorporated into the One Tree Meadow public space to both preserve it and increase public access.

What do the Town Council say to that?
They haven't acknowledged this proposal despite it being formally raised a number of times.

Destroying this land would set an awful precedent for Beaconsfield
Yes. If public green space and beautiful woodland (with no access to it) isn't safe from development then where would be?

What can I do to help?
Please contact us or these people to express your outrage at this proposal. We can't help but hope that sense will prevail once the environmental damage this proposal would cause is fully appreciated.

rectangle  Please contact us to help before it's too late

Together we can help our elected representatives on the wider Town Council block this unbelievable proposal from the Finance Committee. Please contact us now to express your support!